Avalon Visionary Review

4.0 / 5.0
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Review for Europe River Cruise on Avalon Visionary
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Aggie74
10+ Cruises • Age 70s

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Sail Date: Oct 2014

This cruise was booked because mom wanted to do a Rhine River cruise. My late dad and mom took a Rhine River cruise years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. The price was great probably because the end of the tourist season was here. The cruise was sold out. The big cruise lines could learn a lot on how to treat their passengers from Avalon. My mom, sister, and I were on this cruise.

We knew our experience was going to be different when we checked in with the cruise folks at the Zurich Movenpick Airport, the start point of the cruise. Mom is disabled but the folks at the hotel took her under their wing to make sure she was taken care of. Check in was a snap, they just checked our names off a list. We opted for the Mt. Pilatus and Lucerne excursion. Avalon could just skip Mt. Pilatus and offer several hours in Lucerne instead. After spending about an hour in Lucerne, it was on the bus for a short trip to Basel. (Cruise Critic add Basel to your ports of embarkation). We got off the bus and the crew helped mom to the reception deck where they gave us our cabin cards. The crew escorted us to our cabins and helped us to orient ourselves to the features of the cabin. Our luggage was in the cabin before we could catch our breath.

There was a evacuation orientation followed by a description of what to expect on the cruise by Gusta, the Cruise Director. She went into great detail about the included shore excursions, an extra that we weren't expecting, but welcome. Afterwards, there was a happy hour followed by the first of many great dinners. Beer and wine were included in the evening meal, another nice touch. In fact beer and wine were included in all evening meals. Happy Hour, every day, had drinks at half price. Since it had been a long day most cruisers retired to their cabins.

Cabin Review

Cabin CAT B

A well appointed and laid out cabin. The cabin attendant was great. She took great pains to make sure the cabin was made up during breakfast. I was sort of expecting a cruise ship style bathroom. I was not expecting a tiled bathroom with a tiled shower stall and a glass door. It seems that Avalon has their attendants doing several tasks on board. When not cleaning cabins, she could be found helping in both the forward and aft lounges. A word of caution to readers, the boat is wired for 220 volts and your electronic toys will require European plugs. I knew this and purchased an adaptor at Radio Shack.

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